Forever
by Vsquared-k
Summary: "...and so, they lived happily ever after. The end."    "Forever?"    "Yes, Quinn, forever." Faberry. Fluff Alert.


**Editor's Preface:** Yeehaw, girl-love!

**Author's Disclaimer:** Never will be, so get used to it.

**

* * *

Forever**

Quinn Fabray remembers when her mom would read bedtime stories to her as a child. She remembers wishing for her own gallant knight on a dazzlingly white horse that would save her from whatever ills her life would inevitably bring her (one day, it had been not getting the last slice of cake at her _**own**_ birthday party). She remembers the ending of every single fairy tale; how her mom would close, saying, "...and they lived happily ever after." And Quinn remembers asking her mom about that, those many years ago.

"So they live happily ever after?" Her mom had nodded, smiling softly. "Forever?" Judy had leaned over to tuck her youngest daughter in, and had planted a soft kiss on her forehead.

"Yes, forever. Just like me and Daddy. And just like you will one day." And so, Judy had left after turning off Quinn's bedroom light and bidding her goodnight.

Now, Quinn is twelve, and every night, instead of a bedtime story, she's treated to the screaming, the arguments, and then the silence that permeates in the house afterwards. Every night, Quinn tucks herself in after turning off her lights, and wonders if her knight in shining armor will yell at her like her dad does her mom. And every night, she is certain that forever is definitely overrated.

* * *

When Quinn is in freshman year, she meets Rachel Berry for the first time, and is instantly rubbed the wrong way by her selfish attitude, her upbringing, and her inability to be concise. That, and it's amazing how much talent the girl radiates just by being in the room. So, like every other student at the school, she brings the girl down as far as she can. She ridicules her for her outfits, goads others into hurting the petite girl until it is second nature to them all. She doesn't want the diva to even stand a chance at taking her spot as most popular girl in school. After Quinn's done with her, she's quite certain that Rachel doesn't stand a chance.

However, day after day, Rachel walks around alone with a smile on her face, and speaks of leaving Lima for the brighter, shinier lights of New York forever. Quinn hates her, because she (like everyone else) knows that the girl's going to make it big one day, and really, it's not fair to everyone else that she flaunts it around everywhere. Quinn knows that one day, Rachel Berry will leave Ohio behind forever, and, more often than not, Quinn thinks forever can't come fast enough.

* * *

Things change in sophomore year. Puck gets Quinn drunk, then gets her pregnant. Finn joins glee club, so she does too, because she can see that Rachel has a thing for **her** boyfriend. She lies about cheating on Finn, which doesn't last. She gets kicked off the Cheerios, out of her house, then Finn's, and she loses that all-important popularity that she has craved for so long. She even loses her family, but somehow that's okay, because now she has real friends, and she's learning about herself. She's learning how to care for people, even people she hates. She's learning that she loves to sing outside of the pews of church, and that dancing isn't really from the devil. She's learning about patience, self control, mercy, love, all things that her pastor would have been proud of if she'd still been at church. And not pregnant out of wedlock.

When she goes into labor after Regionals, she screams at Puck for doing this to her, screams at her parents for not loving her (or each other), and screams at God for doing this to her. She screams at Rachel Berry for stealing her boyfriend, and screams at Vocal Adrenaline for being just so incredibly evil. She screams at her baby, because she just. Won't. **Come. OUT!**

The first time she wakes up after labor, she looks down at the little wailing newborn, and feels a swell of pride and love. It's hard to swallow that feeling, but she knows she has to, because Puck's there, and she needs him to know that they're not keeping her little baby (who she refuses to name). She knows that it's better this way, since some random stranger is going to come adopt Beth, and give her the life that Quinn herself cannot give her little girl. All Quinn can think, however, is that they are taking her baby away from her forever.

Quinn Fabray knows for sure that forever is much too long.

* * *

Somehow, early into senior year, she finds out (from Mrs. Pillsbury-Schuester) that there are scholarships offered to students that have been kicked out of their homes, for cheerleading, and for glee club (among other things). At this point, she's sick and tired of living with the Joneses (despite how wonderful they are for allowing her bacon), and doesn't want to intrude on them any longer (it has, after all, been two years). She's desperate to leave Lima behind, and determined not to be a Lima loser, so she buckles herself down her studies, and to scholarship applications. Somehow, she scores high enough on her SATs to get into NYU with a small entrance scholarship. Somehow, she scrapes enough together with scholarships to pay off the rest of her tuition, with a small amount left over for monthly rent, or food.

She **knows** that rent in New York is high, and she **knows** that her measly amount budgeted can barely cover a closet-sized studio apartment in seedier parts of town, let alone food, so she's stuck. Well, she's stuck until a certain diva offers vastly discounted rooming privileges in the condo her gay dads **bought** her for getting into Juilliard, as long as she does a couple of the chores around the place, like cooking. Rachel tells her that her dads had been saving up for the condo since she was four and had set her dreams on Juilliard in the first place, and with the economic downturn a couple years back, had actually purchased a sizable condo in the heart of Downtown New York that had been under foreclosure, with much more money left over for food and other things, like tuition. She says that she's certain that she will end up being incredibly lonely without the other glee clubbers (most of which are staying in Lima, or instate), so despite there still being animosity between the two girls, Rachel would be ecstatic if Quinn lives with her in New York, please say yes.

Quinn knows that this is probably her only ticket out of Lima, and she's certain she has to take it. Despite this, she's hesitant, because she wonders if forever is really worth it.

* * *

Rachel, Quinn finds, is like cheese. The more mature it gets, the more flavorful and delectable it is. This finding comes after three years as Rachel's roommate, and four more as her high school tormentor, so she's certain that, like pungent old cheese, Rachel Berry is an acquired taste. She finds that university (and constant exhaustion) mellows Rachel out somewhat, and that, when Rachel is home and relaxing, Quinn somehow gets along with her. Despite their past, they become best friends. It might have something to do with Quinn being able to make a mean tofu stir-fry, and Rachel getting over her disgust due to the smell of bacon every Saturday morning, but Quinn finds that their quirky relationship is really the best thing she has in New York.

Their friendship is also full of quirks. She learns that drunk Rachel is overly affectionate with everyone, regardless of gender, and she makes sure (after the first regret-filled night, followed by an aftermath of crying and vows to never drink again) to never let Rachel out of her sight when she drinks (it's not like she'll ever touch much alcohol again, after what happened with Puck). She discovers that half-asleep Rachel makes more non-sequiturs than Brittany, and is also incredibly giggly and endearing. She finds that when Rachel is sleeping, she snores and mumbles under her breath (and the first time she finds this out, she wonders to herself if Berry **ever** shuts up). She notices that Rachel is quieter when she's sad, and those are the times when Quinn makes it a point to give her a hug, and make her favorite dinner. She realizes that she is quite fond of Rachel's smiles, because her dimples (which are more like craters) are really quite cute.

Even though Quinn had not wanted it to happen, she ends up enjoying most of her time with the brunette. They still have their antagonistic times, but most days, it's highly enjoyable, so she doesn't mind when Rachel goes on rants about annoying divas in class, wakes up at ungodly hours in the morning, or has the audacity to put her socked feet on the couch. She just chalks it up to them being some of Rachel's less savoury quirks, and tries to make her smile more.

One night, after ensuring that the brunette didn't suck the face off of an unsuspecting random in the nearby bar and is in bed (alone) in her pyjamas, Quinn falls into bed, exhausted from coursework and more buzzed than usual, due to trying a new (and much stronger) drink that Rachel had said she just had to try. She's nearly asleep when she hears the toilet flush, and when her bedroom door creaks open, Quinn is much less than half asleep. When the shadow flops down onto **her** bed, Quinn covers her mouth to prevent the squeak that threatens to spill from her lips, because she knows it's Rachel. Drunk Rachel is overly affectionate, but is generally harmless. The arm that pulls her into a warm embrace is quickly followed by a snore, and it doesn't take long for Quinn to fall asleep as well.

The wake up is nothing less than spectacular, full of screams, pushing, thuds, and groans of pain, the latter two from Quinn. When Rachel, in her hangover-induced stupor, finally realizes that **she** just shoved Quinn out of **Quinn**'s bed (and both of them are very clothed), she rushes over to apologize to Quinn. Rachel then asks how she got to Quinn's room (silently wondering if anything happened that she should know about), and Quinn just grins sardonically at her, and tells her that Rachel was the one that climbed into her bed, but don't worry, because nothing happened, and she'd been quite comfortable, thank you, until Rachel had pushed her out of bed. Rachel has the grace to shrug apologetically, because, truthfully, she can't think of anything else right now beyond the throbbing of her head. Quinn just gets up and gets her some ibuprofen for her hangover, then cooks her a nice vegan breakfast. She cooks herself bacon, despite it being Sunday, just to spite the diva, and Rachel smirks, accepting the not-so-subtle payback for shoving the blonde out of bed, and munches on her fair trade scrambled faux-eggs and flatbread.

That night, Quinn realizes that she's known Rachel Berry for one-third of her life (which is, like, forever), and she can't bring herself to care.

* * *

It's another night, and this time, they're celebrating Quinn's Masters degree, and Rachel getting a much-more-than-bit-part in an almost-Broadway musical. Quinn somehow ends up drinking way more than she usually does, and by the time she recognizes that she is, in fact, very drunk, she can no longer find Rachel anywhere. In typical Quinn Fabray fashion, she panics, then finds Rachel being pulled out of the bar by a random in a sleazy ill-fitting suit. And Rachel is all over him, which makes the blonde see red.

When they get home (after a torturously awkward taxi ride, with Rachel leaning bodily on the blonde in the back seat, and the blonde just shoving the brunette's head off her shoulder and tersely giving directions), Quinn just throws the singer on her bed, anger sparking in her eyes. Rachel looks at her, sultry lidded eyes, and that sexy pout that just screams "kiss me now", so she does. Hard. Later, Quinn blames the fact that she was very drunk, but in this moment, she's kissing the brunette and Rachel's kissing back. Then there's tongue, and groping hands, and fisting shirts, and ripping buttons, and skin, and sighs. The rest of the night is a drunken blur, with whimpers ("Please, Quinn, OGodQuinnplease") and screams ("Fuck YES, Rachel, YES!"), and morning comes much too quickly.

When Quinn wakes up in Rachel's bed, the first thing she sees is dark brown hair and an amazingly naked shoulder. She blinks blearily, and then moans at her spectacular hangover. At first, she doesn't recognize the hair, or the room, but then it hits her that she's in Rachel Berry's room. In her bed. In bed with her. And they are both naked. She doesn't remember much of last night, but she's not so stupid that she doesn't know what happened. The knowledge just sparks another groan, because, damn it all, every time she got drunk, she had sex, and this time it was with the girl who also happened to be her best friend and roommate. This was bound to be awkward.

So she attempts to get out of the bed without waking the brunette (which is pretty difficult, since she's entirely entangled in Rachel's limbs) and sneak out. Just as she reaches the door, a small groan escapes from the body in the bed, and she stops in her tracks, trying desperately to cover herself with what clothing she finds by the door on the floor. When Rachel looks over at her, she blinks confusedly at the blonde, evidently still half asleep, and asks, if Quinn's already naked, why isn't she in bed with her already. Quinn's pretty sure her facial arteries have all just exploded, but when Rachel slips out of bed, and the sheet glides off of her body like that, she can't find it in herself to look away. She also can't find it in herself to resist when brunette pulls her back to bed and uses her as a (very kissable) teddy bear. How the shorter one is the big spoon just boggles Quinn's hungover mind, so she just ignores it.

She finds that she is incredibly content in the brunette's embrace, and that she wouldn't mind doing this forever with Rachel, if she'd let her.

* * *

Many years later, Quinn is happily sitting beside her wife as they sip on cocktails in their new house. Ever since that first happy mistake of a night, Quinn had suggested spending more nights in, and Rachel had been more than happy to agree. Quinn is now happy to get the affectionately drunk Rachel all to herself, and, despite general misgivings and questions about the whole relationship thing ("Oh My GOD, Quinn Fabray, are you gay?" Rachel asks, with a twinkle in her eye. Quinn just scoffs at her, because she's quite certain the hickeys she'd left while sober speak for themselves.), they are now very happily married.

Sitting in their couch, sipping cocktails, and reminiscing (God, when'd they get so old?), Quinn finds that nothing can make her happier than her wife. She is relatively successful, and Rachel is all over Broadway, and they just moved into a new house. She is content, and when Rachel ghosts her lips over her cheek and says that she loves her, she responds with a loving kiss that starts chaste, but evolves into something remarkable and passionate.

Later that night, half-asleep Rachel cuddles up to her, skin on skin, and mumbles a line that reminds Quinn of her childhood bedtime stories. She quirks an eyebrow, and asks which of them is the prince. Rachel merely points at herself, then at Quinn, and Quinn laughs.

Rachel wrinkles her nose then, and asks if Quinn will be there with her forever, and Quinn presses a loving kiss on her hair, mumbling that forever really isn't long enough.

Not in the slightest.

* * *

**A/N:** So, erm, this is what happens when I decide that I must make at least one distinct foray into the sexual before adding anything of the sort into a story that I write (especially since many of them seem like they may lead that way at some point soon). Not explicit in the slightest, so it's not really a lemon, more a... lemonade? Watered down with glacial water? Just decided to take the first timid step into dark waters, to see if I can actually write this kind of stuff authentically, and with feeling. I like feeling.

Also, this story idea hit me while I was in my shower, after listening to Brie Larson's version of Black Sheep (taken from Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World) for the upteenth time. My epiphanies need to find a better place to hit me. It used to be while washing dishes, which is just as bad. Neither have room for paper and a pen. Rawr.

This is complete. I'm not adding to it, nor am I taking away from it. I like it the way it is, so please... _please_ don't ask me to continue (unless it's to be spiteful. Then it's ok).

Also, shoutouts to the awesome Albrecht Starkarm, my amazing alpha-editor (we don't like the term beta-reader, so we coined our own). May he be awesome for days, years, and millenia to come, and may he continue to scout out shy writers, and give them encouragement to do their best and step out of their comfort zone.

In fact, this oneshot is dedicated to you, Mr. Starkarm, because you think that, if I try hard enough, I can write something sexy. Here's hoping I did you proud!

R/R if you want, because I only write for the pleasure of writing.

**All else comes as a bonus.**


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